You are viewing documentation for Structure Server and Data Center version 5.4 and patch releases. For other versions, see Version Index or [Structure Cloud].
Automation mechanism allows you define the rules, based on which the issues will be pulled into the structure and arranged. These rules are called Generators and can be added right into the structure (unlike Synchronizers which are added via Manage Structures page).
Once a user opens a structure, the generators in this structure are executed and the user sees the results. The important thing here is that the generators do not run unless the structure is open.
Once the user opens the structure, the generators are executed one by one loading the issues and while the structure remains open, they will keep running monitoring Jira changes and updating the structure accordingly until the structure is closed. The issues themselves are not stored in the structures and are loaded every time - structure only stores the generators, the "skeleton".
When it comes to updating Jira data via Structure, generators can only update Jira data as a result of the users explicit action. A user has to move an issues in a structure to trigger some update (unlike synchronizers, where actions of one synchronizer, could trigger another synchronizer to make changes to Jira data).
Automation Performance Considerations
When evaluating Automation performance, there are several factors that come into play:
- The size of structures (the number of issues in one structure).
- The complexity and the depth of structures. The more levels a structure has, the more calculations need to be done to build it.
- Number of concurrent users editing large structures.
- The frequency of usage. If you have a really large structure that is used on a daily basis or, for example, is set as default structure, which will be shown on the issue page for all issues, this may have a negative effect on the server performance. It would be ok if it's used by a small group of managers when they really need it.
The number of structures with generators does not affect the performance - if a structure is not opened, its generators are not running.
For more details on the efficient usage of Automation please refer to the document here.
To reduce the risk of Automation affecting the Jira performance in general, we have introduced the Automation Timeout feature, which stops generation, if it exceeds a certain time period: Paused Automation
If a user creates a structure that has loading time, which exceeds the set threshold, the generation process will be stopped and the user will be able to adjust the generators settings.